Manga

Drawn by pixiv user petunia

Over the weekend, I read the first ten chapters of the K-On! manga because I wanted to experience the original characters and flow before reluctantly dipping my toes into the KyoAni adaptation. I was unconsciously recognizing certain things that I read from my followees on Twitter (which I once called the “backchannel” – the moniker still holds) and in my Google Reader feeds, e.g. Yui in awe of Mio’s fingers. I enjoyed what I had read and will continue to keep tabs on it. However, I now feel little to no ambition to watch the anime since I believe it will cover the same bases and I’d rather spend those 25 minutes per episode on something else. I could see how certain people could be head over heels for Mio but I just wasn’t feeling much for her; my favorite characters so far have been Sawako-sensei and Ritsu.

On Monday, I thought about the comparisons some made to Lucky Star (this one in particular) and saw some credence to that theory. (I personally felt a slightly stronger comparison to Manabi Straight but I’ll humor this route at the moment.) Mio and Ritsu could be roughly mapped, like Kagami and Konata, as a studious tsukkomi and bullheaded boke duo; Yui, like Tsukasa, as an airhead who means well; and Tsugumi, like Miyuki, as a nice girl from a rich family. I’m not saying that these are exactly the same – of course not! Among the differing aspects: Konata took after her father’s perverted tastes, Yui’s parents always seem to be away on trips overseas, and Tsugumi’s vacation home and her busily-booked house.

A tangential thought slowly grew regarding the quartet structure of main characters of slice-in-life comedy series, viz. “why does it appear as often as it does?”. I’ve already mentioned Lucky Star and K-On! but there is also Hidamari Sketch. Scott of Anime Almanac suggested that the artists may be thinking in fours due to the structure of the strips but that would imply the artist being unconsciously influenced by the form, something I’m unlikely to buy into – though I would accept conscious playfulness within such restrictions. When I try to think about “regular order” manga with core casts of four, two come to my mind immediately: Hyakko and Ichigo Mashimaro, though I’m not too familiar with the latter. (For the sake of inclusion in this post, I’m considering Nobue as an “adult” figure.)

I suspect there is much cross-influence in the slice-of-life manga arena and I think four recurs as a number of core characters, constituting a solid square of sorts. Even though I could extend this inquiry into other genres, I would rather not because that would require possible explanations to strain in encompassing a breadth of dissimilar series. Examples include Asu no Yoichi (the Ikaruga sisters), Noir (Mirelle, Kirika, Chloe, and Altena), Yozakura Quartet (the freakin’ title), Burst Angel (the four girls), and Weiß Kreuz (the four guys). I don’t have much to contribute on the already existing concept of relationship squares, or quadrangles, in comedies such as Kannagi and Maburaho so I won’t at this time but may in the future if I do think of something.

While writing this, I also thought of the number five and how that frequently appears in sentai/magical girl series, e.g. Sailor Moon and Saint Seiya, and played upon by comedies like Negima and Bamboo Blade. However, I currently lack enough deep analysis spark to speculate on that. Besides, I’m certain that subject has been written on a fair amount.